Pilot Survives Landing Behind Enemy Lines
V I R G I N I A B E A C H, Va., April 10 -- After Navy pilot Lt. Chad Vincelette ejected from his failing F-14 Tomcat, he fell through the sky, thinking of his military training, and hoping he didn't die on his daughter Annie's fourth birthday.
"The Navy training took over and then I had some time to ponder … and just prayed to the Lord that I didn't die on my daughter's birthday," Vincelette told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.
The 32-year-old pilot had been flying the F-14 back to the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk after a bombing run over Iraq on April 1 when a mechanical failure forced him and a radar intercept officer, who is from Georgia, to eject at 20,000 feet behind enemy lines. The two men were in a free fall over the desert for what felt like a long time to Vincelette before their parachutes opened.
Then, Vincelette had a slight problem with a line crossing over the canopy of his parachute. His training allowed him to make a midair fix.
Cold But Safe in the Desert
Hours later, Air Force rescuers later found Vincelette, shivering and disoriented but uninjured, in the dark desert of southern Iraq. He and the other officer had landed too far away from each other to communicate. Chad managed to pull on the thermal underwear and wool hat from a survival kit his mother-in-law had given him for Christmas.
It was the first confirmed report of a U.S. fighter going down in Iraq during the war.
A week later, Vincelette was flown back to Norfolk Naval Station, where he received a hero's welcome and was reunited with his wife Elizabeth, daughter Annie, 6-year-old son Jackson, and his parents, Liza and Paul.
"I came down pretty hard," Vincelette said. "I had a little bit of a sore ankle and a sore behind but other than that I'm doing fine."
He was very grateful that the Air Force rescuers came when they did. The other officer was also rescued.
Greeted With Tears and Good News
Vincelette, an instructor at the strike fighter weapons schoolat Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, said he returnedhome to spend time with his family while the Navy investigates themishap. He would not give many details about what happened.
Related Stories
ABC News Live